JOIN USIndia suffered a shock 28-run defeat against Afghanistan but still qualified for the semifinals of the ACC Emerging Teams Cup tournament for the under-23 cricket teams, here on Thursday.
Chasing a modest 185 to win, the Indian team, packed with a lot of talented youngsters, managed just 156 for nine as losing wickets at regular intervals cost them dear in their last group A match.
Opener KL Rahul (51) and Ankit Bawne (39) were the only batsmen who resisted the rival bowlers confidently.
Unmukt Chand (10), Ashok Menaria (5) and Baba Aparajith (2) fell cheaply as the Indian middle order crumbled in the face of some disciplined bowling by Afghanistan.
Having won the first two matches, India topped Group A and will take on UAE in the semifinal on Friday. UAE too recorded a surprise win over Bangladesh on the day.
Despite their upset win over India, Afghanistan were eliminated as India and Pakistan advanced to the knockout stage by virtue of their better Net Run Rate.
India (+0.440), Pakistan (+0.425) and Afghanistan (+0.177) all finished with four points each.
Pakistan will take on Sri Lanka, winner of Group B in the other semifinal.
In the Group A match, India invited Afghanistan to bat and the bowlers did a good job by restricting them to 184 for seven.
India made a slow start with Chand and Rahul scoring at a run rate of three per over. The pressure got to Chand as he soon became a victim of Hamza Hotak.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 184/7 in 50 overs (Samiullah Shenwari 43 n.o., Mohammad Shahzad 38; B Aparajith 2-16, A Patel 2-33) bt India: 156/9 in 50 overs (KL Rahul 51, A Bawne 39; Mohammed Nabi 3-32, R Shah 2-40).